Can The Apple Cider Vinegar Diet Help You Lose Weight?

Many of you have already heard that raw, organic, and unfiltered apple cider vinegar can assist in weight loss and overall well-being. The apple cider vinegar diet is probiotic, and has many additional health benefits. Here we explore how the apple cider vinegar diet as part of a healthy lifestyle can help you lose weight while at the same time, acting as a tonic for the body.

Although many fad diets that create rapid weight loss have come and gone over the years, it is encouraging to note that the apple cider vinegar diet leads to gradual weight loss. It would be nice if we could shed pounds quickly and never see them again, but experience has shown that weight that leaves easily comes back easily.

The apple cider vinegar diet

If you lose weight quickly, your body will oblige you by kicking in mechanisms to make it more likely this weight will slip back on in no time. But if you can be patient and do not expect instant results, your fat cells will adjust to their new size more willingly and not insist on contributing on your waistline. The apple cider vinegar diet is perfect for this.

Take it before meals

When you give it some thought, it makes good sense that drinking apple cider vinegar before meals would help with weight loss. Apples are a good source of pectin, and including pectin in your diet can make you feel fuller and more satisfied. Since apple cider vinegar contains the same amount of pectin as apples (one apple has about 1.5 grams pectin), it can suppress your appetite in a similar way.

There is also good science behind why apple cider vinegar would encourage weight loss even more effectively than eating raw apples. In general, acids help with the digestion of protein, the building blocks for some of our hormones, especially growth hormone.

We’ve seen how this hormone is instrumental in breaking down fat cells. By increasing the acid present in your stomach before a meal, you’ll ensure the chances for thorough digestion and increase the availability of protein for hormone synthesis.

Protein utilization

Greater protein utilization helps the formation of growth hormone, the substance that keeps the body’s metabolism going while we’re at rest. This is why it is important to drink apple cider vinegar before or with your evening meal.

Stimulates digestion

Because apple cider vinegar stimulates digestion, it also reduces the amount of time that fats remains in the digestive tract. It’s important that your body gets a chance to remove key nutrients from your food, and conditions that contribute to diarrhea can be life-threatening.

At the same time, it can be unhealthful to have food remain in the intestines for too long. If fats present longer than necessary during digestion, more fats will be absorbed.

Apple cider vinegar works at the very beginning of the digestive process to stimulate your appetite and increase your interest in food. Normally, you wouldn’t think of this as being the direction you want to go in if you’re trying to lose weight. But apple cider vinegar works positively to support your efforts by increasing your interest in whole foods.

Utilization of iron

ACV can improve the body’s utilization of iron, a nutrient that acts like fire-starter for fuel. Iron is a key component in substances that carry oxygen to the cells and hold it there. It’s the ability of apple cider vinegar to increase iron utilization and energy consumption in the body that makes it such a supportive food for weight loss.

A great source of potassium

Apples are a great source of potassium, and likewise, apple cider vinegar, taken on a regular basis, will contribute the potassium you need to help balance the sodium in your diet. In fact, try replacing salt in your diet with apple cider vinegar. Use it to top foods you might be tempted to salt, such as vegetables or protein foods. A little vinegar over a plate of beans is a regional favorite in many parts of America.

Recommendation for losing weight with the apple cider vinegar diet

Here is my recommendation for using the apple cider vinegar diet to lose weight, based on the work of Dr. Jarvis and others:

1 to 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar + 8 ounces water *

Drink before meals 3 times a day

* Though this author recommends 1 to 2 teaspoons of ACV per cup of water, other sources call for 1 tablespoon per cup of water or other liquid, and that seems to be what VegKitchen readers have found most effective.